Graham Coxon - Reading Festival 2012 review

'The mainstream will never leave someone so incredibly infectious'

7/10

Graham Coxon is so adorable. And not just because
of the three hearts he wears on his guitar strap during this evening's set at the NME/Radio 1 stage. It's because less than
a fortnight after Blur headlined the Olympics Closing Ceremony
megagig at Hyde Park, their Blur guitarist
is quite content to turn up on his own half way up the bill at Reading.

Still, this is the guitarist that always
looked awkward with Blur's success at the ends of the 90s; happily refreshing Blur's insular Britpop with Pavement-leaning discordance, before nonchalantly saying ta-ra to the mainstream and his band
of 14 years, in favour of an acclaimed solo career.

Coxon may have tried to leave the mainstream, but the mainstream will never leave someone this incredibly infectious.
For all the clammering, feisty percussion and turbulent guitars, a case in point is found with the girl held aloft the capacity
crowd during 'What It'll Take'.

Coxon's grinding riffs and beautifully-sarcastic drawl should be the antithesis to her V Festival look of pink cut-off
denims and cropped top, yet she stands there on the shoulders of her mates, grinning with as much glee as the kid with the
Postal Service shirt a few feet away from her.